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Great Sphinax of Giza
The Great Sphinx at Giza, near Cairo, is probably the most famous sculpture in the world. With a lion's body and a human head, it represents Ra-Horakhty, a form of the powerful sun god, and is the incarnation of royal power and the protector of the temple doors. The Great Sphinx is a colossal stone statue located next to the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Carved out of limestone, the Sphinx has the facial features of a man but the body of a recumbent lion; it is approximately 240 feet (73 m) long and 66 feet (20 m) high. |
The Great Sphinx at Giza (left) was part of the funerary complex of Pharaoh Kahfre and lies halfway between the mortuary complex (located at the base of the pyramid) and the Valley Temple. The Sphinx, which embodies the body of a lion and the head of a man (believed to be Khafre), acts as a guardian spirit for the entire complex. The Sphinx was carved from the Giza limestone and measures 157 feet long, 20 feet wide and 66 feet high. Unlike the pyramids there are no chambers inside. Over the years the Sphinx has suffered terrible erosion and man's mistreatment and indignity. It was once used as a target for cannon fire by the Mamelukes. A recent restoration has just been completed.
The Sphinx is the oldest and longest stone sculpture from the Old Kingdom. During the eighteenth dynasty, it was called "Horus of the Horizon" and "Horus of the Necropolis", the sun god that stands above the horizon. In later times, many sphinx images were carved in smaller sizes or in cameos with the faces of the reigning monarchs. The face of the Great Sphinx is believed to be that of Chephren, the fourth-dynasty pharaoh who built the second-largest pyramid in the Giza triad. In the image of the Sphinx, the pharaoh was seen as a powerful god. |
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| Sphinax of Giza History |
There is some doubt as to exactly when the Great Sphinx was built. It is believed to have been built about 2500 B.C. at the same time as Khafre's pyramid, however, recent discoveries of water erosions have placed that thinking in jeopardy. Additionally, there exist no evidence that the Great Sphinx is actually connected with Khafre. Not a single inscription ties this marvelous statue to that pharaoh which is uncommon. Many statues bear the cartouche of the pharaoh they represent. There is some speculation that the Sphinx may predate the pyramids by as much as 8,000 years, to 10,500 B.C., but that is a discussion better left to the scholars and archaeologists. To Anne and I it was simply a marvelous experience to stand and gaze upon the Great Sphinx and pyramids at Giza.
Most dates for the Great Sphinx of Giza place the time of its building during the 4th Dynasty of Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE. It is believed by most that the sphinx was built by the pharaoh Khafre, and that the face seen on the Sphinx is carved in his image.
Some have argued that the Sphinx was actually built by Khafre's father Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, largest pyramid of the world. More recently there has been speculation and some evidence that the statue was actually built by Khafre's nephew, a lesser known pharaoh by the name of Djedefre. As of yet there has been no conclusive evidence found to prove once and for all who built the Great Sphinx or whose image is recorded in the face.
For all its glory the history of the Great Sphinx has been that of a forgotten and neglected monument. From the time of its original carving it has spent most of its life buried to the neck by sand.
The first restoration of the Sphinx came about 1400 BCE. The pharaoh Thutmose IV, sleeping beneath the head of the statue, was told in a dream to dig up the body of the Sphinx. In reward he was told he would be made a great king. Thutmose immediately began digging up the Great Sphinx, restoring it to its former glory. He also left evidence of this activity in what is called the Dream Stele, locating between the Sphinx's paws.
Despite Thutmose's restoration the Sphinx was once again neglected and buried by sand. Although travelers from across the world saw the face of the Sphinx, it was not until the turn of the 20th century that the statue would once again be uncovered and restored, a process that took decades to complete. |
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Discovery of Sahara Desert
The sphinx is built of soft sandstone and would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried for so long. The body is 200 feet (60m) in length and 65 feet (20m) tall. The face of the sphinx is 13 feet (4m) wide and its eyes are 6 feet (2m) high. Part of the uraeus (sacred cobra), the nose and the ritual beard are now missing. . The beard from the sphinx is displayed in the British Museum. The statue is crumbling today because of the wind, humidity and the smog from Cairo. Attempts to restore it have often caused more harm than good. No one can be certain who the figure is to personify. It is possible that it is Chephren. If that is so, it would then be the oldest known royal portrait in such large scale. Some say that it was built after the pyramid of Chephren was complete. It may have been set as a sort of scarecrow to guard his tomb. Still others say it is the face of his guardian deity, rather than Chephren himself. The image of the sphinx is a depiction of royal power. Only a pharaoh or an animal could be shown this way, with the animal representing a protective deity.
In the 1980's, a carefully planned restoration of the Sphinx was in progress. Over 6 years, more than 2,000 limestone blocks were added to the body of the sphinx and chemicals were injected. This treatment did not work. It just flaked away along with parts of the original rock. Later, various mortars and many workers who were not trained in restoration worked for six months to repair it. In 1988 the left shoulder crumbled and blocks fell off. Present attempts at restoration are under the control of the Supreme Council of Antiquities' archaeologists. They are concentrating on draining away subsoil seepage which is damaging the rock. They are also repairing the damaged shoulder with smaller blocks and staying with the original size.
Sphinxes are sometimes represented with a female face. For example, a sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut was sculpted with her face and a pharaoh's beard. Queen Tiy, wife of Amenhotep III, was the first to have a truly female sphinx sculpted in her likeness. Besides a female face without a beard, her sphinx had breasts and wings.
The Sphinx differs from other deities in that it has an animal body and a human head, whereas most other deities have human bodies and animal heads. One explanation for this anomaly is that the Sphinx is the earthly representation of the constellation Leo, which has a lion's body. Images of the sphinx are found in various sizes and shapes, as the collection at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the temples throughout Egypt attest.
The Giza Pyramids and Sphinx have been the focus of attention for New Age seekers, following a pronouncement by the American psychic Edgar Cayce. In a trance state, Cayce spoke of vaults at the base of the Sphinx and a Hall of Records. He suggested that a secret passage exists under the Sphinx. This is supposed to lead to a tomb where the annals of the lost continent of Atlantis are hidden for safe keeping.
The Sphinx is in essence a carving out of the living rock, though parts of it have been repaired (and possibly were originally constructed) with cut blocks of stone. It is immediately apparent that the rock strata out of which the Sphinx has been made vary from a hard grey to a soft yellowish limestone. The head is formed of good, hard limestone of the same sort as was quarried all around locks of the pyramids. The hulk of the body, on the other hand, is made of
poorly consolidated and therefore readily eroded limestone. The rock improves again at the base of the monument, with a return to harder (but brittle) reef-formed limestone that has allowed some carved details of the beast to remain visible after at least four-and-a-half thousand years of natural and human attrition.
In keeping with the whole Giza Plateau, these strata within the Sphinx run upwards from east to west, in other words from the breast to the hindquarters, and down from north to south. The Sphinx faces due east, with the same great precision of orientation as is seen in the disposition of the Giza pyramids.
It seems inevitable that the monument was made from the start to point directly to the equinoctial sunrise. Interestingly, the face (but not including the ears) is a little awry in relation to the head as a whole: the left eye is slightly higher than the right and the mouth off-centre, and the entire face is tilted back a little.
The body is 72.55 meters in length and 20.22 meters tall. The face of the sphinx is four meters wide and its eyes are two meters high. The mouth is about two meters wide, while the nose would have been more than 1.5 meters long. The ears are well over one meter high. Part of the uraeus (sacred cobra), the nose, the lower ear and the ritual beard are now missing, while the eyes have been pecked out. The beard from the sphinx is on displayed in the British Museum.
Below the neck, the Great Sphinx has the body of a lion, with paws, claws and tail (curled round the right haunch), sitting on the bedrock of the rocky enclosure out of which the monument has been carved. The enclosure has taller walls to the west and south of the monument, in keeping with the present lie of the land. |
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| Important Facts Victoria Falls |
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The Sphinx (".The Sphinx, unlike the Pyramids, is carved out of the living rock. It is 241 feet (73.5 meters) long and in parts is 65 feet (20 meters) high. It faces due east,towards the equinox. It has been suggested that it was built around the same time as the construction of the Pyramid of Khafre..")
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The Sphinx of Egypt - The Great Sphinx ("..In Egypt alone there are enough sphinxes that they have been categorized by type: crisophinx (lion body with ram head), hierocosphinx (lion body with hawk head), and androsphinx (lion body with human head, like the Great Sphinx). Viewed as protectors and guardians, the lesser sphinxes are often seen at temple entrances. Rows of sphinx statues can be found at Luxor and Kamak..")
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The Mystery of the Sphinx ("..Along with the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Sphinx is one of the greatest enigmas and the most studied ancient monument of mankind’s history. The whole complex of Giza, composed of the Sphinx, the Great Pyramid, other pyramids, and distinct structures, definitely holds the key to understanding advanced past civilizations. There is no other place..")
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Sphinx Introduction ("..The Great Sphinx of Giza belongs to the Giza necropolis west of Cairo. The site is a plateau containing the three great pyramids of Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura, together with the Sphinx and a number of smaller pyramids, temples, and tombs...")
- A Sphinx is an iconic image of a recumbent lion with the head of a ram, bird, or human, invented by the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom, but a cultural import in archaic Greek mythology, where it received its name "strangler".
- The largest, and best known Sphinx lies near the Great Pyramid in the Giza Valley Plateau, situated about six miles west of Cairo. It is the largest single sculpted statue in the world, carved from the bedrock of the plateau.
- The Sphinx is oriented due east - facing the rising sun - near the 30th parallel - and may well be the oldest monument on the Giza Plateau since long-term water weathering has been found in the great pit in which it lays.
- The Western name "Sphinx" was given to it in antiquity based on the legendary Greek creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman, though Egyptian sphinxes have the head of a man. The ancient Greek term itself is postulated to be a corruption of the ancient Egyptian Shesep-ankh. This name was applied to royal statues in the Fourth Dynasty, though it came to be more specifically associated with the Great Sphinx in the New Kingdom.
- In medieval texts, the names balhib and bilhaw referring to the Sphinx are attested, including Egyptian historian Maqrizi, which suggest Coptic constructions. The Egyptian Arabic name Abul-Hol, which translates as Father of Terror, came to be more widely used.
- No one is certain when the Sphinx was built nor what it represents, though many theories about its origin and purpose have been noted. It is commonly believed that the Sphinx was built by ancient Egyptians in the 3rd millennium BC.
- We do not known the name ancient Egyptians called the statue. It is referred to circa 1500 B.C.E. as Hor-em-akht - Horus in the Horizon, Bw-How Place of Horus and also as Ra-horakhty Ra of Two Horizons.
- Horus - Hours - the Place Where Time Began
- Horus - Horse - Horse Horse Nebula - Creation
- Carved out of the surrounding limestone bedrock, the Sphinx is 57 metres (260 feet) long, 6 m (20 ft) wide, and has a height of 20 m (65 ft), making it one of the largest single-stone statues in the world. Blocks of stone weighing upwards of 200 tons were quarried in the construction phase to build the adjoining Sphinx Temple.
- The Sphinx faces due east, with a small temple between its paws. The temple resembles the sun temples that were built later by the kings of the 5th Dynasty.
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| Getting There |
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Air: Cairo International Airport, an important connecting point between Europe, Asia, and Africa, offers regular service by most major airlines. EgyptAir offers both domestic flights to Luxor, Aswan, and Hurghada and international service.
Road: To the Sphinx at Giza, just on the edge of Cairo
Bus: Several buses operate services to the Pyramids at Giza |
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| Hotels |
| Le Meridien Pyramids El Remaya Square, Pyramids, Egypt 02 33777070 |
| Hotel Sofitel Le Sphinx 1 Alexandria Desrert Road Giza, Egypt 02 33776444 |
| MENA HOUSE OBEROI Pyramids Road, Giza, Cairo, Egypt 02 33773222 |
| Pyramids View Hotel 10 El Sadat Street, Hadaek El Ahram Zone, Giza, Egypt 02 33772077 |
| GRAND PYRAMIDS 53, Studio Misr Road, Mariottia Pyramids, Giza, Kairo, Egypt 02 33881883 |
| Restaurents |
| The Moghul Room Pyramids Road Giza,, Cairo, Egypt 02 33773222 |
| Andrea 60 Maryotteya Canal, Cairo, Egypt |
| Harris Café Le Méridien Pyramids, El Remaya Sq., Haram, Giza, Egypt 02 33773388 |
| AMARANTE ROYAL GARDENS 29 Abou Hazem St, Giza, Egypt 02 37812211 |
| Khan al-Khalili, Islamic Cairo,, Egypt 02 33773222 |
| Attractions |
| Pyramids Sound and Light Show Pyramides, Nezlet H Ammam, Cairo, Egypt 02 3863469 |
| Große Sphinx von Gizeh Gizeh, Al Qahirah, Egypt |
| Egyptian pyramids Egypt |
| Pyramid of giza Egypt |
| Mena House Hotel Egypt 02 3833444 |
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